You'll be missed, Bill Carnegie

Community bids farewell to outgoing food bank CEO and president.

Community bids farewell to outgoing food bank CEO and president.

January 05, 2006|AMY GOVERT-LARSON Tribune Correspondent

SOUTH BEND -- Michiana bid Bill Carnegie farewell Tuesday afternoon. After more than a decade of service, the chief executive officer and president of the Food Bank of Northern Indiana stepped down from his post for a similar position with a larger food bank in Arizona. "I do this with sad joy," said Lynn Coleman, assistant to South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke, as he read a dual proclamation issued by the cities of Mishawaka and South Bend recognizing Carnegie's efforts. "We've been blessed," said Coleman. "Bill has done a yeoman's work in this community." During Carnegie's tenure as the organization's first full-time employee, he helped transform the community food bank into an operation that distributes millions of pounds food among 10 counties each year. The organization that once served some 30 community agencies now provides goods to over 300. Carnegie's leadership and the responsibility of the food bank "isn't just about collecting food," said Coleman. "Bill helped create jobs in the community." Daily operations of the 82,000-square-foot facility are completed by a dozen full-time employees and several part-time staff members. In his final address to public address in Michiana, Carnegie was quick to credit the community for the food bank's success. "My job was easy. We had the volunteers and we had the donors," said Carnegie. "(The food bank) really has a life of its own ... because it was all of you who did this." A supportive board of directors has also been essential to the organization's development, he said. "They really let me do what I needed to do to build this place," said Carnegie. Carnegie's efforts, those of his staff and the food bank's board have not gone unnoticed by those who need it most. "I have never met anyone who has had such a passion to help the masses," said Jackie Davis, community health coordinator for Memorial Hospital. "He's touched thousands of lives in this community."